Featured Research

from universities, journals, and other organizations

Brand preference may be in the drink, not in the head, vodka study shows

Date:

June 14, 2010

Source:

American Chemical Society

Summary:

Scientists are reporting the first identification of a chemical basis for people's preference for certain brands of vodka, which outsells rum, gin, whiskey and tequila. They found that vodka differs from simple water-ethanol solutions in ways that could alter vodka's perceived taste.

Those social drinkers who order super-premium vodka in every martini or vodka-and-cranberry, and disdain that default "well" liquor. Are they just vodka snobs, who pay $60 for a bottle of a "tasteless" beverage that can't possibly taste much different than its $6 counterpart? Or is there really a scientific basis for the differences that drinkers claim to taste in America's favorite hard liquor?

Related Articles

Scientists are reporting the first identification of a chemical basis for people's preference for certain brands of vodka, which outsells rum, gin, whiskey, and tequila. They found that vodka differs from simple water-ethanol solutions in ways that could alter vodka's perceived taste.

Their findings appear in the American Chemical Society (ACS) bi-weekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Dale Schaefer and colleagues, who conducted the study, note that vodka has a long-standing reputation as a colorless, tasteless solution of 40 percent pure ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, and 60 percent pure water. All such beverages should have the same faint or undetectable taste. But sales of premium vodka brands have surged in recent years. Schaefer's group at the University of Cincinnati worked with colleagues from Moscow State University in Russia to find an answer.

They knew that famed Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, noted for work on the Periodic Table of the Elements, made a key observation on alcohol solutions in his 1865 doctoral dissertation. Mendeleev believed that a solution of 40 percent ethanol and 60 percent water would develop peculiar clusters of molecules, called hydrates. That solution became the global standard for vodka, which usually is sold as an 80-proof, or 40 percent alcohol, beverage.

A century later Nobel Prize-winning chemist Linus Pauling speculated that the hydrate clusters might consist of an ethanol molecule sequestered by a hydrogen-bonded framework of water molecules.

The scientists used high tech instruments to analyze the composition of five popular vodka brands. They found that each vodka brand differed in its concentration of ethanol hydrates. Vodka drinkers could express preference for a particular structure. Drinkers actually may be perceiving this internal structure or structurability of vodka, rather than taste in a traditional sense, as the scientists note in their report:

"We began this discussion with the statement that vodka is a colorless, tasteless water-ethanol solution. So how do vodka drinkers develop brand preference? Our answer is structure. Beverages with low structurability are likely to be perceived as watery, because the fraction of water clusters is higher than in brands with high structurability. Beverages with high structurability, on the other hand, harbor transient cage-like entities where the ethanol molecule is sequestered by surrounding water molecules. At high alcohol content, clusters of alcohol molecules appear. . . These ethanol clusters undoubtedly stimulate the palate differently from either water or the E•5.3H2O cage structure. Even in the absence of 'taste' in the traditional sense, vodka drinkers could express preference for a particular structure."

American Chemical Society. "Brand preference may be in the drink, not in the head, vodka study shows." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 14 June 2010. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100607122545.htm>.

American Chemical Society. (2010, June 14). Brand preference may be in the drink, not in the head, vodka study shows. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 3, 2015 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100607122545.htm

American Chemical Society. "Brand preference may be in the drink, not in the head, vodka study shows." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100607122545.htm (accessed March 3, 2015).

More From ScienceDaily

More Mind & Brain News

Featured Research

Mar. 3, 2015 — The literary great Marcel Proust wore ear-stoppers because he was unable to filter out irrelevant noise -- and lined his bedroom with cork to attenuate sound. Now new research suggests why the ... full story

Mar. 3, 2015 — Attendance at schools exposed to high levels of traffic-related air pollution is linked to slower cognitive development among 7- to 10-year-old children in Barcelona, according to a new ... full story

Mar. 3, 2015 — No significant change in home habits of smokers have been observed in the aftermath of a ban on smoking in public spaces, researchers report. Greater inspiration to kick the habit likely comes from ... full story

Mar. 3, 2015 — Heart function has been associated with the development of dementia and Alzheimer's disease through a new study. Participants with decreased heart function, measured by cardiac index, were two to ... full story

Mar. 3, 2015 — Children of recently separated or divorced families are likelier to drink sugar-sweetened beverages than children in families where the parents are married, putting them at higher risk for obesity ... full story

Mar. 3, 2015 — Although sedatives are often administered before surgery, a randomized trial finds that among patients undergoing elective surgery under general anesthesia, receiving the sedative lorazepam before ... full story

Mar. 3, 2015 — Why do people shake hands? A new study suggests one of the reasons for this ancient custom may be to check out each other's odors. Even if we are not consciously aware of this, handshaking may ... full story

Mar. 3, 2015 — It appears that stress markers in unemployed people can be found, independent of smoking, alcohol consumption and overweight/obesity. Results from a study suggest that long-term unemployment may be ... full story

Mar. 3, 2015 — On the heels of an American nationwide measles outbreak comes a report that campaigns aimed at scaring people about the consequences of non-vaccination might not be as effective as many think. ... full story

Mar. 3, 2015 — Doctors write millions of prescriptions a year for drugs to calm the behavior of people with Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia. But non-drug approaches actually work better, and carry ... full story

Related Stories

June 12, 2014 — Youth who binge drink are often choosing spirits (“hard alcohol”), particularly vodka, and their binge drinking is concentrated among a relatively small number of brands, according to a new ... full story

Mar. 19, 2014 — Texans, known for enjoying local beers and Dr Pepper soft drinks, now have a growing beverage industry that would appeal to James Bond, who is well-known for enjoying a good martini. Distillers are ... full story

Sep. 10, 2012 — The next time you call someone a drunken pig, remember this study. Researchers studied the effects of red wine and vodka on pigs with high cholesterol and found that the pigs with a penchant for ... full story

Oct. 20, 2011 — In a new study, researchers reported that the average US adolescent is heavily exposed to alcohol brand references in popular music. Branded alcohol references are most common in rap, R&B, and ... full story

Mar. 29, 2011 — After tackling the chemistry of coffee, tea, fruit juices, soda pop, beer, wine and other alcoholic beverages, why not take on the ultimate challenge, the Mount Everest of cocktails, what may be the ... full story

ScienceDaily features breaking news and videos about the latest discoveries in health, technology, the environment, and more -- from major news services and leading universities, scientific journals, and research organizations.